Rutherford mayor to lawmakers: increase money for schools

MURFREESBORO — State lawmakers should redo the school funding formula to provide more money for fast-growing Rutherford County, Mayor Ernest Burgess told state lawmakers Friday.

"Help us," Burgess said during a Capitol Connection event at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce with members of the county's delegation in the Tennessee General Assembly. "We know we have a problem."

The Republican mayor stood up and took the microphone to make his points about education funding for the county's 43,000 students during a meeting that was supposed to focus on transportation. He delivered his message to several dozen people sitting in audience seats and the three present Republican lawmakers: state Sens. Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro and Jim Tracy of Shelbyville, and state Rep. Mike Sparks of Smyrna.

Burgess complained about how his county commission has had to raise property taxes for the fast-growing district, such as a 7.8 percent hike this year, because $105.1 million from the state is only funding 49.9 percent of the cost to provide teachers here with pay and benefits.

The mayor also noted how the county commission can only use local taxes to pay debt and interest on campus construction, such as $43.8 million in proposed funding for three Smyrna projects: build a new middle school on Rocky Fork Road and renovate Smyrna Middle and David Youree Elementary.

"We cannot manage this going forward," said Burgess, adding that he's worried about putting an increasing tax burden on residents to pay for schools. "It's not sustainable."

Three other members of the county's all-GOP delegation were absent from the meeting: state Reps. Dawn White of Murfreesboro, Bryan Terry of Murfreesboro and Rick Womick of the Rockvale community southwest of Murfreesboro.

Contact Scott Broden at 615-278-5158. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden.